The War Still Rages On
by SomeDieYoung
Summary: My own ending to Great Ninja War case: The war is over and Naruto finally returns to Konoha with his comrades and friends. But something is wrong about Naruto - war's memories are haunting him and he feels exhausted to death. Will he ever be able to overcome all what happened and be the same old Naruto again? Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Friendship, Action.
1. Lively As A Zombie

**Hello everyone! Wellll, it's time for my first fanfic ever... The idea for this story has been on my head kind of long, and it seems that it finally came out ._. I guess that was to be expected since reading other people's fanfics. xD  
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**English is not my native language, so please don't hate me if there's typos or others mistakes. It's the same thing what happens always in school: we have to write something in English and even though I don't notice any mistakes, the teacher notices them all (the teachers see everything, always) :D The name went a little bit wrong with big letters and so... But whatever, I don't know how to edit it. And sorry, there's no cover picture yet.  
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**I hope many many reviews, even though I don't even know if anyone will read this story :'D All the comments, critics, corrections on misspellings and advices are also welcome, anything you want.**

**Little explaining from the story: I have read the official Naruto manga but I don't actually use the war thing on this story, so there won't be spoilers (except for some names). Everything you need to know is that the war is over and life continues peacefully :_D The normal story and talking is expressed by** text like this **and Naruto's internal talking with Kurama will be with this bold text.**

**But now we'll start with the story, sorry for the long A/N beginning... Hope you like the story! And remember to review (I'll live from rewievs now on :|)!**

**And also those disclaimers: I don't own anything. Luckily for the others.  
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* * *

"Finally we're at home!" Naruto shouted and stretched his tired arms. The journey back from the war had been long, so it felt great since it was over. Everyone else from his group seemed also happy: Sakura, Sai and Yamato were smiling, and even Sasuke looked little less annoyed than usually. Kakashi's expression was hard to guess because of the mask, but at least his cheeks were red. Of course because of one of those dirty books he was reading, though.

The group headed through the village, passing by to say hello to many people. All seemed almost normal in the town, except for couple of burned buildings and reconstructions. As they went, Naruto felt the same odd feeling he had felt when leaving the battlefields, now just much stronger. His breathing was panting. Limbs felt like they weighed several tons and skin was covered with cold sweat. Still he went on – he didn't want to make anyone to worry about him. He was strong enough to survive on his own, at least on the situation like this.

"Naruto?" he heard a voice and snapped out from his thoughts.

"Y-yes?" Naruto stuttered, wondering if someone had noticed his state.

"Aren't you going home? We're at the bottom of the stairs that lead to your house", Sasuke asked and looked at him, raising an eyebrow.

"Y-yea', of course," Naruto responded, laughing a little too loud.

"You okay?" Yamato asked him, frowning a little.

"Of course I am! Why wouldn't I be?" Naruto forced himself to smirk. He ran to the halfway of the stairs by full speed, trying to look cheery. But actually it felt like his lungs were on fire, so he had to stop and take a breath for a moment. When he turned to give a glimpse on the remaining group, he could see everyone looking on him, slightly worried. So he waved his hands as happily as it was possible and put his tongue out. Then he ran all the way up the stairs, hoping not to get any more questions.

* * *

On his home door Naruto could hear his own heart beating on his chest and blood humming on his head. He tried to stand straighter and searched his pockets, looking for the keys. Shit – he had gave his keys to neighbor's old lady, so he wouldn't lose them on his journey. Naruto bit his lip and knocked on the door. It was slightly over midnight so Naruto wouldn't have wanted to wake up the old neighbor. But he had to, since he was tired to the death – he hadn't slept at all after the war, because of helping others and being scared of the coming nightmares – and because of he was feeling weird and sick altogether.

"Who is it in this time…" old lady (why couldn't Naruto remember her name at the moment?) opened the door rubbing her eyes. "Naruto?" lady asked confused, smile growing wild on her face. "It really is you!" lady shouted and suddenly hugged Naruto. Now he was the one to be confused, since old lay was never been this friendly with him before. But oh well, maybe it wasn't a wonder after all, since many people had left to the battlefield, not coming home ever again.

"Yea', yea', it's me," Naruto chuckled and hugged back. That was when old lady suddenly went back and looked on him horrified. Naruto wondered if he had gone too far – seducing old woman just after coming back from the war. Hah, that sounded more like Kakashi-sensei.

"I-I'm sorry, did I hurt you? You seem to be wounded all over…" Old lady gazed over Naruto's body, which was practically covered in bandages. Well, Naruto had to confess that war had got its price of him. He had a large wound with many stitches on his forehead (damn that Madara) and couple of smaller wounds all over the head. His left hand was on the arm sling due to fracture, and on the right leg was a large wound which went all the way down from knee to the ankle (thanks for the Juubi, actually). Not to mention all the smaller wounds, bruises, scratches, paleness, dried blood on the bandages, black color under his eyes and worn clothes. He had to look like some fucking zombie, but c'mon, he was alive after all.

"No, no," Naruto chuckled and smiled to the old lady. "I've got used to this, and they don't hurt after all, since I was given a medicine." That seemed to relief the old lady a little. Well, Naruto wasn't practically lying. At the moment it didn't hurt, even if it had hurt _a lot _at the time. He was also given a medicine by Sakura, but he had lost it almost right after. Well, he treasured his life, and a little pain on his limbs was nothing to be compared to Sakura's handling if she would've found out.

"So, all of you are good and alive?" old lady asked smiling. Naruto just nodded, as he coughed violently couple of times. Fuck, his lungs felt like they were on the flames again.

"Are you okay?" lady asked, a worry returning to her face. Naruto just waved his hand until he could talk again.

"So, what I was after… You have my keys?" Naruto got his voice back and old lady nodded right after, disappearing on her apartment for a moment. Naruto felt a way too much dizzy to be just because of sleepiness, but he still smiled when the lady brought his keys.

"Thank you", Naruto said when lady handed him the keys. "And hey – maybe we can talk some more on some day? We are neighbors after all." Lady was actually very nice, and Naruto wondered why he hadn't actually talked to her before. Well, he was always on missions, or training, or…

"Yes, that would be nice. Good night, Mr. Uzumaki", lady said smiling.

"Yeah, good night-" Naruto was turning to walk on his apartment's door, when he felt his leg giving up out of blue. Not realizing to use his good hand, he landed on his left shoulder and fractured arm, knees hitting the concrete and voice of pain running out from his mouth.

"Shit", he hissed as getting back to his feet. The old lady helped him by pulling from the right arm, and Naruto appreciated that, even if it really didn't help much.

"Are you alright, seriously?" lady asked as Naruto leaned on the fence.

"Yeah, just stumbling on my feet," Naruto laughed as he saw women's worry. Ah, wrong move – his lungs were on the fire again.

Naruto felt the old lady's stare on himself as he got to his door. His hand was shaking, but he pushed the key to the lock, luckily hitting with just one try. He smirked to the lady and waved his hand, watching lady to smile slightly as both of them closed their doors.

* * *

_**"Kyuubi?" **_Naruto asked as he slipped down to lean on his door. His vision was slightly blurred, and his head felt heavy.

_**"What is it now, brat? Let me get some sleep," **_a voice growled inside of him. Naruto chuckled to the "brat" name. Kurama hadn't changed at all.

_**"Why in the hell I am so tired?" **_Naruto sighed more to himself than to Kurama.

_**"As if I would know. Your chakra has been running low for many days now, and guess who have had to pain for that? Who, huh? I'm fucking tired too, and I don't even know why."**_

_**"So weird,"**_ Naruto just stated. _**"Will it go over if I just go to sleep? I don't feel like it. I feel like I'm fucking dying right now."**_

_**"Well, it doesn't hurt to try, does it? I don't feel anything like that; I'm just so tired because of the war. Why didn't you say about that feeling to the cherry-head?"**_

_**"Shouldn't you know?" **_Naruto asked, chuckling a little for Sakura's new name._**"I didn't want to worry anyone, since it didn't felt that bad back then. But now…"**_

_**"Hah, I should have known, yeah," **_Kurama said._**"Go to sleep; as I said it doesn't hurt to try."**_

_**"Yes, yes, I'm already going," **_Naruto puffed and struggled back to his feet. The surrounding world waved badly for a moment, but he didn't fall. A win. Floor 1, Naruto 1.

Naruto staggered to the kitchen, checking the fridge to calm down his grumbling stomach. Huh, nothing to eat. Except if he wanted to drink milk from two months ago and sit the next month on the toilet, or eat the fridge's light and become a firefly. Such a wonderful idea, but Naruto still kept on checking the other places.  
Finally – there was a one forgotten cup noodle on the shadows. Naruto opened the packing and boiled the water, falling almost asleep as waiting the noodles to be ready.

After all, it was a bad idea that he had decided to eat something before going to sleep. When he was carrying the noodle on the table, his feet betrayed him again, going all numb. _**"Naruto, watch out!"**_Kurama's voice shouted, as Naruto slipped over the edge from the kitchen's three-stairs height. He landed again on his knees and on the fractured arm, this time also the head hitting hardly on the floor. Naruto could hear the water dripping from the dropped noodles couple of meters away from him, and felt his head do the same with a blood.

He couldn't get up as the blood slowly flowed to the floor, head's and stomach's (Naruto hadn't remembered until now that Madara had also sliced his stomach all open before) wounds now opened again. Naruto could feel the pain all over his body as his consciousness started to fade. The last thing he knew before passing out was Kurama shouting: _**"Naruto? Naruto, answer to me! Naruto-"**_

Drip, drip, blood to the floor.

* * *

***Yep, on my story there's three steps to the kitchen :D It just suited well on my plan.**

**But what did you like? Such a shitty story or are you waiting for a new chapter already, due to the killing cliffhanger (sorry *evil laugh*)? Let me know what you think! I actually have chapter two already completed... But now for the next time, so bye!**


	2. Light As A Feather

**Little problems with updating ._. But here it finally comes, the chapter two! Hope you enjoy, don't forget to fav and review ^^**

* * *

"Naruto? Naruto, answer to us!" Kakashi shouted, kneeling beside the body that lied on the floor. He heard Sakura to take a breath as she kneeled beside Kakashi, investigating Naruto's still-bleeding wounds. The morning sun shined to the puddles of blood, and Kakashi felt sickness on his stomach. It wasn't the first time that he saw Naruto covered in blood, but usually the situation wasn't that bad.

"His wounds aren't recovering as fast as usually", Sakura stated her voice full of worry. "Because of Kyuubi and Naruto's own strong chakra he normally recovers at a moment, but now…" Sakura didn't need to explain, as Kakashi saw the wounds by his own eyes. Sakura was using his healing jutsu and it was working a little by little, but way too slowly altogether.

"I- I'm sorry," Naruto's old neighbor stuttered as she watched the situation. "As Naruto came to get his keys last night, I thought something was wrong… But when he himself said that everything was alright, I was stupid and believed him," the old lady said on the edge of crying. Kakashi stood up and put his hand on the lady's shoulder.

"It's no one's fault, believe me. Naruto is good at deceiving people to think that he is alright, even though he isn't," Kakashi said and felt his own voice breaking. He was so angry to himself – why hadn't he noticed, even so that he had been Naruto's teacher and comrade for years and fought beside him at the war?

"You know, you opened the door for us with the second key. That already was a huge help", Sakura smiled, even though the worry could be seen from her eyes. Kakashi guessed that poor Sakura blamed herself as much as Kakashi blamed himself.

"We have to take him to the hospital", Sakura said to Kakashi. He simply nodded and lifted the unconsciousness boy to his piggyback. Sakura had added bandages but the blood was still flowing through, staining Kakashi's clothes. But it didn't matter at all right now. So he carried on the boy light as a feather on his back and pink-haired girl beside him. The old lady simply wished luck for all of them and went back to her apartment.  
_I guess Naruto truly needs that luck_, Kakashi thought as they went.

* * *

"So, what is his state?" Sakura asked from Miss Tsunade as she came back from the operating room. Apparently Naruto's wounds had opened again so severely that they had had to stitch them again.

"Well, he's stable now", Tsunade said as she took off his plastic gloves and operation mask. "We sewed the opened wounds and changed the bandages. There was a new fracture on his left hand so it's now in a new cast. His body is normal by the outside, but in the inside it's very weak. He's on his room alone now, a respirator helping his weak lungs to breath and pain-killer easing the ache."

Sakura nodded. She had figured that much out of Naruto's stage as she has investigated him, even though she hadn't thought that his state was that serious. She had also asked if she could help in the operating, but Tsunade had rejected her request. Well, Sakura could understand that, since they had just come back from the war yesterday.

Kakashi suddenly cleared his voice, startling Sakura. He had been so quiet that she had almost forgotten about him. "So, can we visit him? He's our comrade, after all", Kakashi asked, watching to Tsunade.

"Yes, it is okay", she said, scrubbing her operation clothes. "But remember, even if he's stable now, you're not allowed causing stress for him. It could be dangerous."

"I figured out that much", Kakashi puffed and led the way after Tsunade said the room number. Sakura watched his sensei's blood-stained back as they went. Naruto wasn't the only person he was worried about – she hadn't saw Kakashi-sensei this worried ever before. Well, it wasn't hard to guess that he was blaming himself. Even though there wasn't any reason to do that - anyone couldn't have notice or known anything.

"Naruto, you awake?" Sakura whispered as they opened the door. The said boy was sleeping on the hospital bed, chest rising and falling calmly. Sakura and Kakashi sat down to the chairs beside the bed, both watching the surrounding machines at the worry. Sakura noted the pain-killer tube going to boy's arm, dripping its containing straight to the vein. The breathing mask was on Naruto's face, steam forming inside it with every breath.  
Sakura didn't find anything to say, so they were left to the silence as Kakashi said nothing either. The only voices were Naruto's quiet breathing and heart rate-machine's steady peeping. Sakura watched the bruised and wounded boy until she couldn't take it anymore, turning her eyes to the window.

It was just mid-day so the room bathed on the sunlight, bright rays being reflected by metallic surfaces and Kakashi's forehead protector. _So weird that we don't need to fight anymore, _Sakura thought sleepily._ As we won the war against Madara and others, the lands are now in alliance and the forehead protectors say 'shinobi' instead of a specific village. But why is it so that Naruto gets to pay the largest price? He saved everyone and still gets to the hospital as others continue to live their former lives…_

__"It's unfair, isn't it?" Kakashi chuckled as reading Sakura's thoughts. "He is the strongest person I've ever known – oh well, maybe Tsunade wins with her physical attacks, ouch – ,he saves everyone and still gets to pay."

Sakura simply nodded. "Yeah… And after all of that he still fights alone, and gets into hospital for not saying his worries out loud."  
Silence was here again, as the specific faces popped into Sakura's mind. "You know, I think we should let the others know about this? Sasuke and Sai at least, as they are both part of the group. And oh, Yamato too."

"Yes, you're right," Kakashi said nodding. "Do you want to go to tell them? You're better at words, after all."

"Yea', I can go", Sakura said and got up from her chair. As she went and shut the door, she heard Kakashi's muffled voice: "Naruto, why won't you wake up?"

* * *

It took Sakura more time than she had thought to find Sasuke, Sai and Yamato, so when they got back it was already an early evening. Sasuke had been on the village's border, just watching his old home place. Sakura would have considered that as a perfect chance to talk with Sasuke from his returning, but there hadn't been time for that right then. Sai was found from the library, this time reading book named "How to win lady's heart", which got Sasuke to raise his eyebrow abnormally high. Yamato again had just been leaving the hospital himself, due to his long prisoning time.

"So, any change in his state?" Sakura asked as she sat beside Kakashi. Has he had always that much wrinkles on his face?

"Noup, nothing at all", Kakashi stated and brushed his fingers through the grey hair. "He hasn't moved even an inch since you left."

"What's wrong with him?" Sasuke asked glancing at Naruto's blank face. He had sat down on edge of Naruto's hospital bed carefully, Sai sitting right beside him.

"Well, actually the problem is that there's nothing apparently wrong with him," Kakashi stated, deserving confused looks from the others.  
"Am I right if I guess that he just overdid it once again?" Yamato asked, standing on front of the window, his head wrapped in bandages. "He really went over his limits during the war, giving his help and power, and even sharing Kyuubi's chakra…"

Sakura nodded. "Yeah, it seems that that is the main reason. And in addition there can be stress, problems in the mental health because of seeing comrades dying – you know what Naruto thinks about that – or anything which can't be seen with the bare eye." The others just nodded, silence surrounding them once again.

"All I hope is that he'll get better soon," Sai said, his face slightly expressing sadness.

"I think we all hope so," Kakashi answered the shadows of the arriving night on his eyes.


End file.
